Forged in Grace: A Novel

Grace Jensen survived a horrific fire at age 15. The flames changed her, badly scarring her body and mind, but also giving her a new gift, an ability to feel other people’s pain. Reclusive and unable to bear human touch, she lives with her mother, tends wounded animals, and nurses a little crush on her former doctor. Her carefully curated world explodes when the magnetic Marly Kennet reappears in town; Grace falls right back into the dynamic of their complicated teenaged friendship. When Marly impulsively exhorts Grace to return to her home in Las Vegas, Grace takes a leap of faith and accepts, thrilled to follow Marly’s sizzling energy back into the world. But Marly keeps secrets, including one that has haunted Grace for over a decade: what really happened the night of the fire?

About the Author

Jordan Rosenfeld, BA, MFA, is author of the novel Fallout (May, 2025), Forged in Grace and Women in Red, and six books on the craft of writing including How to Write a Page-Turner, the bestselling Make a Scene, Writing the Intimate Character, A Writer’s Guide to Persistence, Writing Deep Scenes and Write Free. Jordan’s articles and essays have been published in hundreds of publications, The Atlantic, LitHub, The New York Times, The Rumpus, Salon, Scientific American, and many more. Jordan teaches online writing classes and at numerous well respected writing conferences, including the Writer’s Digest Annual + Novel Writing conferences and The San Francisco Writer’s Conference—where she is the Fiction Track coordinator, to name a few. She is a freelance manuscript editor and writing coach.

Praise for Forged in Grace

“Forged in Grace is a beautiful, raw and affecting book.” —Erika Mailman, author of The Witch's Trinity

“Fire. Abuse. Pain. Hurt. Hope. Healing. Friendship. Las Vegas. Jordan E. Rosenfeld takes on all these subjects and more in the beautiful Forged in Grace. Inhabiting her diverse characters with ease, delving deep into language with obvious skill and care, Rosenfeld brings a lot of love to this story. She grabbed me with the first page of Grace and didn’t let me go until I’d reached the satisfying ending. This book is at once an escape, a square-off with the forces of evil, an antidote to hate, and a recipe for how to love each other. Don’t miss this well-crafted, moving tale from a rising literary star.” —Rebecca Lawton, author of Junction, Utah ; Sacrament ; and Reading Lessons from the River

“Jordan Rosenfeld’s Forged in Grace has a narrator so immediate and revealing, one wants to protect her – from her hoarder mother, from the averted eyes of her neighbors, from potential heartbreak of a man she wants to love. Grace’s burn scars overlie all her relationships, and leave her both feisty and fragile. Manipulative friend Marly steers Grace into corners, and truths she wouldn’t otherwise face. Rosenfeld’s debut novel tears open this tragedy and finds the core of healing–a marvelous, stunning read.” —Julia Park Tracey, author of Tongues of Angels